USDA photo by R. Anson Eaglin
Federal and state agriculture officials have expanded the quarantine for citrus greening in the Perris area of Riverside County in California by 33 square miles. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) expanded the quarantine.
The measure parallels the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established on Aug. 14. APHIS is taking this action because of a citrus greening detection in a plant tissue sample collected from a residential property in Riverside County.
There are 8.84 acres of commercial citrus impacted by this expansion.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures pertaining to the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of citrus greening to non-infested areas of the United States.
The APHIS Citrus Greening website contains specific changes to the quarantined areas in California. According to the website, citrus greening is one of the most serious citrus diseases in the world. Once infected, most trees die within a few years. There is no cure. While the disease poses no health threat to people or animals, it has devastated millions of acres of citrus crops throughout the United States and abroad. Infected trees produce fruits that are poorly colored, possibly lopsided and bitter. This fruit can only be sold for juicing.
The disease is currently found throughout Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also found in portions of Alabama, California, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.
Additional information is available on the quarantine from APHIS agriculturist Abby R. Stilwell at abby.r.stilwell@usda.gov or 919-323-6296.
Source: APHIS
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